OutLaw - Penn State Law

08/27/2020

27 August 2020

I and the OutLaw Executive Board write, first and foremost, to unequivocally condemn the Trump regime’s ban on transgender personnel serving in the U.S. military. In that vein, we write in vehement objection to allowing military recruiters access to our student body while the official position of the regime is one that fails utterly to recognize the dignity and humanity of trans* folx.

OutLaw extends our support and respect for our veteran, active service, and aspiring JAG friends—indeed, the absolutely shameful insult and egregious harm done to trans* veterans and servicemembers by this transphobic government are of utmost concern to OutLaw and lie near the heart of this message. Our support also extends to our colleagues and allies in the Military Law Caucus. We would like to make it clear that we value the friendly and collaborative relationship we share with the MLC and with its leadership.

My Executive Board and I, in the spirit of our friendly and collaborative relationship with the Penn State Law administration, also fully recognize and respect the extremely difficult position that Penn State Law and the administration are forced into by the Solomon Amendment (upheld unanimously by Rumsfeld v. FAIR, 547 U.S. 47 (2006)), which threatens to strip and withhold federal funding from entire universities if military recruiters are denied access to their student bodies. We appreciate the amelioratory efforts undertaken by Penn State Law to explain and address this dilemma.

However, our priority is to protect, defend, and uplift our trans* friends, comrades, and allies. It is our position—both official and personal—that if we really care to value every member of our community, then we must strongly and categorically condemn both the regime’s transphobic, exclusionary policy and the hostage situation created by the Solomon Amendment. On these grounds, we object, in the strongest possible terms, to allowing military recruiters access to our students while transphobia is officially endorsed.

We choose our trans* comrades over the whims of a transphobic regime. We ask that Penn State Law and each member of this community join us and do the same.

I am Always Yours, in Pride and in Solidarity Forever,

Ryan Morrison
President, OutLaw

07/03/2020

2 July 2020

To the Penn State Law Community: Pride is every day.

I write to you, as we exit the month of June and enter July, with the message that Pride is every day.

The OutLaw Executive Board and I want to make it abundantly clear to our membership, to the incoming 1L class, to the Penn State Law Community at large, and to q***r folx and allies everywhere that—with or without a formal recognition of the observance of Pride from the Penn State Law administration—Pride is every day. Our organization is committed to creating a safe space for our community, as well as to working with the Penn State Law administration to provide an inclusive and supportive environment for all.

I write to you appealing acknowledgment of the unrelenting attacks on LGBTQ+ people each day and, with a heavy heart, I write to you in the wake of this past month’s heinous murders of Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells and Tatiana Hall in Philadelphia, PA, of Riah Milton in Liberty Township, OH, of Merci Mack in Dallas, TX, and of Brayla Stone in Little Rock, AR—this is to say nothing of the scores of slain Black transwomxn whose deaths go unreported or undiscovered.

I write to you condemning this week’s brutal NYPD attack on demonstrators marching to commemorate the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. In condemning this antiq***r violence, I urge you all to remember that the battle at Stonewall was fought to defend q***r bodies from pervasive police brutality.

I write to you decrying the Trump administration’s attack on the health, safety, and dignity of q***r and trans people in the form of the Department of Health and Human Services’ robbing patients of critical antidiscrimination protections by pulling the teeth from Section 1557 of the ACA.

I write to you contemplating the four years that have passed since June 2016’s shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL. This was a radicalizing event for many young q***rs like myself—to learn of the hate and vitriol that could compel someone to viciously cut down 49 lives in cold blood still angers and saddens me to this day. Let this act of unspeakable violence against us, the rallying response of LGBTQ+ communities in Orlando and nationwide, and the memory of those lost all serve to steel our hearts and to remind us of the undying tenacity and strength of the q***r spirit.

I write to you in celebration of the Bostock decision from the U.S. Supreme Court this month. Title VII is a tremendous bulwark for working people in this country, and the expansion of its protections to workers suffering discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity is certainly to be celebrated. But let us contextualize this decision and Title VII—the myriad metrics and obstacles that chain a q***r or trans worker from even reaching the space wherein they might begin to enjoy these protections are still very much in play. The work to combat these institutional obstacles—especially as the COVID pandemic exacerbates their cruelties—and to protect q***r and trans workers must go on.

I write to reemphasize our full and unequivocal Solidarity Forever with our comrades in the Black Law Students Association and with the larger Black Lives Matter movement, now and forever. The present national moment is a thrust towards liberation, and the fight for q***r liberation is one with the antiracist and anticolonial fight. It always has been; and as I call upon q***r folx everywhere to continue fighting, to continue demonstrating, and to continue lending our voices, bodies, and purses to the causes of liberation, I write to implore all to remember well that the bravery of q***r people of color standing in the vanguard at Stonewall in June 1969 is the very reason for which we honor the month of June in the first place.

We are here, we are q***r, and I write to you in the hope that this message will echo far and wide: in June, in July, and on every day of the year.

Always yours, in Solidarity Forever and Pride, today and every day,

Ryan Morrison
President, OutLaw

06/01/2020

1 June 2020

I and the OutLaw Executive Board write to extend and emphasize our full and categorical Solidarity with our colleagues in the Black Law Students Association and with the larger Black Lives Matter Movement, now and forever.

As we enter Pride Month 2020, it is imperative that we remember our history. I urge LGBTQ+ communities at Penn State and beyond—in the strongest possible terms—to recall that the battles for q***r liberation have often been fought and won with q***r people of color leading the charge, as was notably the case when q***r heroes like Marsha P. Johnson stood in the vanguard of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, for which we honor the month of June.

I call upon q***r people everywhere to exercise Solidarity by speaking up—loudly, proudly, and uncompromisingly—and by working against the racism that plagues our communities and against the Rainbow Capitalism that perverts the heart of our Pride. Lend your voices and your purses instead to the causes of liberation. To maintain silence—or to engage in performative “celebration” of Pride, while remaining ignorant of the struggle for liberation at its heart—is to maintain complicity in the preservation of the systems of oppression that are currently, actively, and violently at work in the United States. Remember: Stonewall was a Riot, an exercise of Solidarity is an exercise of Pride, and Pride is every day. Every. Day.

Yours in Solidarity Forever, today and every day,

Ryan Morrison
President, OutLaw

For a still-updating list of protesters’ bail funds taking donations nationwide, compiled in collaboration with the National Bail Fund Network:
https://bailfunds.github.io/

For the effort to support the work of Reclaim the Block in Minneapolis:
https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/home

For the American Civil Liberties Union’s Protesters’ Rights resource:
https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights/?fbclid=IwAR0-N6a0C8R9LTevtsSeTI4UkhT2MU5cMi2aOTT02qTAxI-OAVIiKgdGNoY

For q***r liberation history resources:
https://q***rhistory.com/history-resources

09/04/2019

Hey OutLaw! We are co-sponsoring a Welcome Back Social on the 12th at 7:00 with MLC and Nat Sec! Hope to see all your lovely faces there! 😀

04/06/2019

Thanks to everyone who came to the march! Happy Pride!!! 🏳️‍🌈

02/26/2019

Hey OutLaw!

This week we are partnering with the Military Law Caucus to collect donations for SSG John Singleton who is serving overseas with the 101st Airborne Division.

We are collecting:
- Socks (long boot socks)
-Snacks (Beef Jerky, Sunflower Seeds, Chex Mix, Trail Mix, Energy Bars, etc.)
-Paperback Books, word puzzles
-Anything Else

The collection box will be outside room 105!
Thank you all for your support and spread the word!

10/15/2018

Happy Monday OutLaw!

Just a reminder, we are tabling this week on Wednesday for International Pronouns Day. We will have stickers and candy, so come hang out with us and celebrate International Pronouns Day!

02/26/2018

😄 We’re here, we’re q***r, and we’re all applying for jobs in this jurisdiction!

Today, the full Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

02/05/2018

If anyone would like to join me in representing our organization at the Reverse Career Fair, come to the table in the BJC and dress nicely! 5-7 pm.